Monday, August 18, 2008

The Best Seats At the Game

USA Today is counting down what it and its readers consider to be "the 10 Best Seats in Baseball," kicking things off with The Beach at Petco Park:

•What you will see: Kids, kids and more kids. They are mostly toddlers, playing in the sand with their plastic shovels and pails, and occasionally throwing around beach balls. The lead usher will frequently play "Simon Says" during the game while the kids scream in delight.

•What you won't see: You can shout at the outfielders standing nearby, but not at the umpires. They're much too far away, and besides, it's impossible to distinguish a strike from a pitch two feet outside at this distance. The rest of the action isn't bad, although you won't be able to see balls into the right-field corner, needing a good view of the large TV in the park to fill you in on the details.

Hey, that sounds great for the Shyster Family, three-fourths of whom couldn't care less about baseball, but I think it stretches the definition of "best seats" a tad. I've been out there before and I can tell you, anyone without kids would go bonkers out there. If and when the Padres return to the World Series, you can bet families will get priced out of there and some suckers will be paying top dollar for what are essentially knothole seats.

Anyway, the series is going to run all week. I'll bet my next three paychecks* that the seats on the Green Monster are #1, but I suppose I'll read the whole series anyway.

*In the unlikely event that I am wrong, I should note that we're betting the blogger paychecks, not the lawyer paychecks. There is, needless to say, a slight difference in their sizes.

7 comments:

dlf
said...

My kids loved those seats, but only for about an hour. Then they got tired of the sand and wanted something different. Plus for a day game, the sun is incredibly bright, reflecting off white sand, making the view difficult.

I don't really like any of the gimmick seats, like the hot tub in Arizona. My favorite doesn't exist anymore -- RF overhang in Detroit. Next best, 3B in Fenway.

LF corner (section 33, last I checked, the non-alcohol section)at fenway is the only place in the park where you can see every inch of the field. Great place to see the game, but I want a cold one at the game.

I'm pretty sure that the seat directly behind home plate at Fenway have a view of the entire field as well. Of course, any fly ball looks like it's a home run until you look down at the outfielder camped out 20 feet from the warning track, but that's probably true anywhere.

tadthebad is right, assuming there is no post, section 33 offers a great view of the field. I used to work in the ticket office at Fenway and we got comps in grandstand seats behind home plate (grandstand sections 20-23) and didn't have a giid view of the LF and RF corners. I would imagine however that if you were in low box seats that it would offer a view of everything.

i haven't been to a lot of games, but the best seats i ever sat in were 3rd row upper deck, Tiger Stadium, directly behind home plate, Right field overhang in the same stadium were great, and 4thy row just inside the first base side of the screen at Yankee Stadium were cool as hell.